The days are gone when college degrees were treated as a golden pass for your future success. Earlier, earning a degree from a renowned college or university was seen as a golden ticket that opened doors to numerous job opportunities. However, if your degree was not from a recognized institution, your chances of securing promising career opportunities were often limited.
But, the scene is not similar these days.
Now, companies and job providers are not focusing only on the degrees you have. However, they focus what you can actually do.
And, this is what we call “skill based hiring”. This is the actual transformation in job industry. Now, degrees are not so, crucial as they were in earlier days.
Do we call it “death of degrees”?
No, not actually. But, the worth and importance of degrees are definitely fading.
Let’s explore the reasons behind this shift:
Skills Are Always Louder in Comparison to Certificates
The skill is all about what you can do and the degree says what you have studied. The fast-paced world moves quickly, and companies no longer have the time to train employees from scratch. HR teams in companies are looking for employees who can solve problems themselves. Be it sales, design, code, analyze or managing teams, if you can do it or prove it then you are up-skilled. Here, the degree doesn’t work, only skill helps.
For example, tech giant IBM has stated that “a degree is not a basic requirement to get a job or play different roles in the company; practical skills are what truly matter.”
No College Required, Internet Is Now New Giant Classroom
The process of studying and getting degrees from colleges is now outdated. Now, internet is playing an amazing role of your teacher and trainer. There are several online platforms providing an affordable range of courses. You are now free to sit home and learn new skills.
The traditional concept of going university to complete a 3-4 year degree program is no longer norm. Instead of investing 4 years, you can learn skills in few months and you are job-ready. People now better understand how to be skilled without wasting their prime years.
Degrees Cost a Lot These Days, Skill-Based Programs Aren’t Expensive
Getting a degree requires a significant financial investment. There may be need of getting loans to complete a degree. A loan that obviously could take year to be repaid.
In this case, the person who has taken out a heavy loan and spent years repaying it, but lacks practical experience, contrasts with someone who may not have an expensive degree but has worked on numerous real-time projects and completed relevant internships, gaining expertise in specific tools.
Now, this is a practical approach not to hire an employee with expensive sober degrees. Hiring a skilled person with specific capabilities or skills is the trend of the day.
Technology Is Transforming the World at Lightning Speed
The rapid growth of technology in the world makes it tough to keep up with. Every coming year, technologies come in new form. The version of tools and software also get updated. The courses and syllabus studied from college become obsolete for the students graduated from there.
The role of skill based programs jump in here. The up-skilled candidates are a better option in this place and being hired easily and frequently. For e.g. someone who is practicing new techniques and trend in digital market will be a worthy choice for companies, instead of someone who has only outdated theoretical degree.
The Expanded Popularity of Digital-First Work Arrangements
The global workspace is now redesigned after the Covid-19 pandemic. And, it completely changed the office-work culture. Now, companies don’t need people around in office set-up. The companies are now okay with remote work culture and hiring employees without constraints of any geographical limits.
What employers look here is, “if employee can deliver worthy results”, “is communication pattern is okay and clear”, “the time management is good”, and “if employee completes the task efficiently”.
If the reviews from clients are well and portfolio shows what he/she can do then a remote job is not so tough to deal with.
From Fiverr and Upwork, people are being selected without putting up queries over their degrees.
Workplace Fairness and Representation: An Impact of Being Up-Skilled
Everyone has the right to have a college degree but, what if you don’t have the opportunity to get a college education. There are many of us not having such opportunities. Some people start doing jobs early to support their families.
In such cases, some companies help employees by opening doors and hiring them based on their skills, not by their degrees. No matter what your background is if you have real-world experience and can do the tasks allotted appropriately then, you are welcome to be a part of company. Educational background will not be judged. The fair hiring will be done for such candidates.
Conclusion
Is this the end of the degree era?
No, degrees are not dead, actually. There are a few career options in science, engineering, law etc. where educational degrees will always be essentially required. But apart from that, in IT and digital stretch you need to be up-skilled.
For this, there are so many online skill programs running. You just need to pick up the right one and let your future brighten up.
Ramanjeet Kaur is a Life Skills and Behavioural Trainer. Her journey to becoming an entrepreneur and starting her career as a trainer in the education industry is an inspiring revelation. She was always passionate about teaching profession from her childhood and started mentoring young kids to develop their personalities.